Forging Elite Fitness

Anything can happen if you are willing to put in the work and remain open to the possibility. Dreams are realized by effort, determination, passion and staying connected to that sense of who you are.Why me? Why not me?- Michael Jordan

I wrote a post (link) in November of last year about being a "dark horse" in competition. Today's post is about what happens when you dedicate yourself to something and succeed despite being faced with numerous obstacles.

I had a little inspiration to write what I did then, and I have a little inspiration to follow up on that post now. The inspiration is my friend, Christian, who at the time of the first post had been fighting and clawing his way through the minor league system for four years. Prior to his professional career he had been drafted out of college in the 24th round. If you follow baseball you'll know that 24th round picks usually don't make it very far.

But baseball, like life, is a funny thing. Your ultimate goal, whatever it may be, will never materialize overnight. You have to chip away at it. Progress is incremental at best and sometimes so infinitesimally small that you may think that you have stopped moving forward entirely. Months will fall off the calendar, then years. When you feel like you have given the very last of what you have it is then that you must find within yourself a little bit more to offer. It is through the crucible of constant applied pressure that warriors with the resolve of steel are forged.

The sum of Christian's effort can be contained in fact that he made his Major League debut for the Colorado Rockies on Monday. I have known him for almost 15 years and have seen how he has adjusted and adapted to overcome challenges and stay on the right track to reach his goal. He proved to a whole lot of people that can pitch at the game's highest level and it is an understatement to say that this kind of dedication is anything less than incredible.

We all have goals. Never give up. Keep pressing forward. Always.

Christian worked out at CF 818 a few times over the last two years while on his road to The Show.